In the eighteenth century, Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus introduced a system of naming organisms that is still used today. Linnaeus based his system on the physical similarities of organisms. Each organism was identified by two names: the first identified the genus of the organism and the second identified the species. This system of naming living things is called binomial nomenclature.
Using this system, humans are known as Homo sapiens. The word sapiens is Latin for ‘wise’.